Additional Applicability Considerations

There are additional situations in which owners and operators are not subjected to the RCRA regulations for releases into the uppermost aquifer. Owners and operators may be exempt under 40 CFR 264.1 because they dispose of hazardous waste in the ocean. In other cases, they may be exempt because the EPA regional administrator finds that the treatment zone of a regulated land treatment unit is not producing hazardous constituents beyond those that are statistically significant for the area, or that there is no potential of migration into the uppermost aquifer of liquid from a regulated unit.

All regulations in 40 CFR 264, Subpart F, apply to the active life of the regulated unit, so the regulations may continue to apply after a facility has been closed.

To learn more about RCRA safety standards visit our RCRA Refresher Online Training web page.